


Atem Awakens

by Moonluster



Series: The Nights of Blood, Moon, and Roses [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood Magic, Blood and Injury, Dark Magic, Magic, Memory Loss, Not Canon Compliant, Supernatural Elements, Vampire AU, Vampires, Violence, Work In Progress, playing fast and loose with canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:54:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29166024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonluster/pseuds/Moonluster
Summary: SERIES AND WORK NOTE CW: Rating for violence, graphic content, and language.3,000 years have passed, and Atem has retained his memories from the time he was alive. When he awakens in a body named ‘Yuugi’, he gains new yet foreign knowledge--and, unfortunately, the Beast is hungry. Tonight, he’s out for blood...however he can get it.
Series: The Nights of Blood, Moon, and Roses [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141085
Kudos: 5





	Atem Awakens

**Author's Note:**

> Big note! This series will be slow-going. 
> 
> I know this AU is as old as the fandom but I thought I’d take a stab at it in 2021. Please be nice to me, and let me know if you liked it! 
> 
> I spent hours crafting the world and world rules specifically for this series, so it's a fusion of multiple elements of all the vampire fiction I've seen, plus my own ideas! Think of it as a sort of Vampire AU Homebrew. 
> 
> Huge shoutout to DragonWolfZero for helping me through the drafting and idea process! He has his own Vampire AU (with GX) coming out, too!

Atem gasped as he was thrust from the shadowy, stony chill of his heart’s maze into the warmth and heaviness of a body and room. It took him a moment before he was aware of all the new sensations and what surrounded him. 

The seat he was sitting in was solid. The scent of a clean, yet homely room filled his olfactory senses. The breath that rushed into his lungs was invigorating, refreshing, and at once the blood in his body surged with newfound vitality. Atem glanced around himself; he was surrounded by darkness with one solitary lamp on a desk that scattered light around the room, and the dim faintness of various objects. Judging by the furniture, he concluded he was in a bedroom. 

Acutely conscious of the new weightedness of his body, he brought his hands up and stared at them--they were pale, small, unadorned. They were missing the sensation of golden jewelry he’d grown accustomed to. 

Before him--at a desk, he’d apparently been sitting at--lay a pile of coins and paper with faces and numbers on them. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was, but his mind conjured the terms: money. _Yen_. A figure floated in his mind that seemed staggeringly high. 

He decided to leave the stack there, standing from the seat with ease.

He found a mirror nearby and flinched when he saw his reflection after what had seemed like an eternity--and so clearly, too! The mirrors back home were murky at best, and water never stilled long enough to get a clear picture of oneself. 

Atem drew closer to it, bringing a hand slowly to his face and gently caressed his cheek with his fingertips. He started at the sensation of his own touch but persisted. Both his fingertips and cheek tingled pleasantly at the feeling. 

Smiling, he put both hands to his face and pressed against his cheeks, relishing in the fact that he was _solid_. 

He’d never thought such a thing was something to be celebrated, but after years stuck in an abyssal maze of deathly chill and palpable darkness, he was more than thrilled to be _alive_. For so long, he’d been transient and translucent, even in his own space.

The next thing he knew was an incredible ache in the pit of his stomach; and he doubled over, gritting his teeth with eyes screwed shut. It was the type of hunger that threatened to send him into a frenzy. 

**_I...hunger..._** whispered the Beast in his veins. 

He hadn’t heard that voice in ages--and he wasn’t happy to listen to it again. 

Atem slowly straightened, taking deep breaths to regain composure and enact control over the Beast. He knew he had to feed, and quickly. He’d just gotten a body again, and he was on the brink of starvation. 

Then, he remembered that he had someone to attend to--a certain brutal, scamming, punk of a person. 

“Ushio...” he muttered. An image floated into his mind of the person in question, and the location. 

The gaping, painful hole in his stomach roared, and he realized this was the perfect opportunity to get what he needed; consequences be damned. 

Body moving on its’ own, he left, and he didn’t answer the old man when he asked where he was going.

When he stepped onto the street, it was like his body knew where he was going even though his mind didn’t. He couldn’t help but look at everyone he passed by with a voracious stare, which startled a few and they intentionally avoided him. 

**_So much...I want it all...slake me! I crave!_ **

_Wait. It’s not time yet._ Atem bade the creature. It quieted to growl, and his stomach echoed it. 

At last, he was _wherever_ he was meant to be, and there was the man; a hulking mass in the shadows leaning against a wall. 

“So, Yuugi...you finally came. You’ve got the money, right?” He asked, gruff and sly, shooting Atem a greedy smirk once he was in the light.

Atem flashed him a fanged grin with a cocked head, weight on one side of his hips with hands in his pockets, “no, I don’t.” 

The name Ushio addressed him by was _not_ his, and at once concluded this body wasn’t, either. 

“By the way, my name is _Atem_.” 

The man’s smirk fell from his face and his beady eyes were heated, “Huh? I _told_ you to come with the money! Do you want a beatdown? I have no problem kicking your puny ass.”

He moved from the wall and punched his palm with his fist, growling under his breath as he stalked toward Atem.

Atem’s grin dropped and he flexed a hand at his side, bending his knees, standing his ground against the man coming his way. 

He just had to remember...

_What spell...what spell?!_

**_First...blood..._** The Beast reminded him. 

_Right._

He slipped his jacket sleeve up, slammed the top of his forearm against his mouth, and ripped into the flesh. Fresh, hot blood rose from the wound. Even though he knew it was his own, the Beast in his head shrieked with excitement. His mind barely registered the pain. 

The scene stopped Ushio in his tracks, “what the hell?! What are you, some kind of demon?!” 

The wound began to pulsate and glow in dark colors. The shadows rose like a babbling fountain around the opening.

Atem glanced between it and the man across from him, flashing him a menacing, blood-stained smile, “I might be...” 

“Fuck this, I’m out of here! Keep your money and stay the hell away from me!” Ushio turned on his heel and dashed like a madman away from Atem, shouting and cursing. 

“Oh no, you don’t...” Atem rose both hands at his sides, the blood from his wound materializing into something shadowy that snaked like living tendrils around his wrists, fingers, and palms. He imagined himself appearing in front of the man. 

In a blink, he was, and Ushio screamed, stumbling and falling on his backside onto the concrete. 

Atem relished in the sound of his heavy, panicked breathing--and even though it could’ve been the Beast, he could _hear_ the greedy, selfish, fleshy heart that carried nourishment thundering in his pathetic chest, noting the terrified wide-eyed stare that regarded him with absolute horror. 

Atem clicked his tongue, then darted it out to taste the blood drying against his teeth as he prowled toward Ushio, who was scooting backward on hands and ass to make a show of his supposed innocence. 

“Please, I didn’t mean it, Yuugi--or _whatever_ the hell you are!” 

“Oh, really? I don’t believe you.” Atem chuckled maliciously. 

He continued, raking his eyes over Ushio’s thick neck, “You aren’t my first choice...but you’ll do.” 

“Wh-what?!” 

Atem thrust a hand forward, dark, potent energy erupting from his palm that struck Ushio in the face with such force his head was knocked against the ground beneath him. He stopped moving. 

Once Atem finished casting, he wobbled where he stood; fighting the urge to crash into the concrete. His head pulsed, and he held it with his hand (with the arm that wasn’t bleeding), knees shaking and heart pounding in his chest. His entire body ached and shuddered--he really _was_ starving. 

Still bleeding, unintentionally dripping on the sidewalk and himself, Atem fought through the rush of agony in his brain and body and knelt down, using nimble fingers to find the juncture between the neck and shoulder. 

Once he did, he wasted no time splitting that salty skin apart and drank as his life depended on it, metallic heat flushing through his mouth, down his throat, and finally into his stomach. He made a sound under his breath like that of a hungry baby as he drank voraciously. 

He was aware he could take too much, and he would need a proper meal to truly stave off his hunger, but for now, this would at least slake the Beast’s vitalic craving. 

Once he had his fill, he licked the wound closed, ensuring there would be no evidence of the feeding, and left Ushio unconscious on the sidewalk, casually wiping at his mouth with his uninjured hand. 

He pressed his hand against the slowly bleeding wound and traversed his way back to the place that was ‘home’. 

...Now that his head was cleared of the Beast’s whispers and his stomach satiated, he wondered _why_ this happened. 

The last thing he recalled was that he was resting in the Puzzle’s space when suddenly he’d been brought out of it...and now, here he was. 

The body’s name was “Yuugi”--and just like “Ushio”, it was a strange tongue he’d never heard, yet felt natural to speak. 

Unlike what he’d previously thought, this body wasn’t his own, and it _felt_ wrong; like wearing someone else’s bracelet or clothes--it didn’t feel right even though it fit fine. 

Atem also wondered _where_ he was. This place was nothing like his home--it was cold, metallic, glassy, blindingly bright, and deafeningly loud. He couldn’t even see the stars when he looked to the sky! All the people looked different too, wearing clothes he couldn’t even attempt to name. 

All of this made his head spin--and not because he was hungry, either. 

While it was wonderful to be “alive” again, it was also confusing him and his faculties. 

_Where am I? Who is “Yuugi”? Why am I here?_

These questions plagued him as he approached the strange-looking building that read ‘Kame’--a language that both looked foreign yet familiar. He had no previous knowledge of it and yet could read and speak it.

He didn’t want to think anymore, and so once in the building, he retreated to the ‘inside’, finding solace in the cold and dark that he’d once come to hate. 

...

Yuugi found himself standing in the shop, his vision coming into focus and he recognized where he was. 

“I’m...at home?” 

He glanced about himself, and a sharp pain ripped through his entire forearm. 

He held it, tensing. He sensed something flakey yet wet against his hand. When he brought his hand up to look, he gasped. 

_Blood._

“What...how...did I do this?” 

“Yuugi!“ 

His grandfather came stumbling down the stairs to reach him. 

“Grandpa! What...I thought I was in bed.” 

“I thought you were, too! Then you got up and left. I tried to ask you where you were going, but you didn’t respond, so I’ve been waiting here until you returned...” 

This puzzled Yuugi--especially since he didn’t _remember_ leaving his desk, _or_ leaving the shop, _or_ injuring himself. 

“Your arm, and your clothes! What did you do?” Sugoroku put his hand against the top of Yuugi’s back and grabbed his other hand (the non-injured one) and guided him up the stairs gently. 

“I...I don’t know.” Yuugi murmured, his confusion growing more and more as he remembered the last thing he was doing. 

_I was in my room, trying to get all the money together to pay Ushio...then I solved the Puzzle...and after that..._

Nothing. 

Yuugi’s mother was waiting in the living room, and upon finding Yuugi, she sighed, “oh, thank goodness! We were so worried--” 

Her eyes darted to the injury on his right arm and the blood on his shirt, and she exclaimed, “what happened?” 

Yuugi pulled at his shirt and looked down at it, heart chilling. The blood was still fresh, too, based on how red it was.

“I’ll get some water and the aid kit,” Sugoroku announced and left the room for a moment. 

Yuugi’s mom took her son’s hands and pulled him to the couch, sitting him down and then herself next to him. 

She tenderly grabbed his wrist and looked at the wound, gasping under her breath, “this is a Vampire bite...and a messy one, at that.” 

Yuugi’s mind scrambled as he tried to think of _any_ explanation for this, but the truth of the matter was that there _wasn’t_ one--because his memory was lost between when he last knew, and whenever _this_ happened. 

“What happened?” His mother repeated, trying to coax an answer from him. 

Yuugi shook his head, murmuring, “I can’t remember. Everything after a certain point is...blank.” 

Sugoroku returned, and Yuugi’s mother immediately moved from her spot to sit on the other sofa. 

His grandfather cleaned and wrapped the wound with gentle, calm hands, quietly admonishing him, “we may not be like the other Vampires; seeing as we don’t have enough of it in us to be considered such--but I don’t want you doing things like this recklessly. We’re in danger if we’re too bold.” 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry I worried you.” 

“Well...if everything is safe now, I will go back to bed,” his mother informed them. 

Sugoroku reassured, “Everything should be taken care of,”

Yuugi offered her a warm smile, “I’ll be fine, Mom. I’m just...confused.” 

“As am I...” she admitted, eyes low. 

“Well, good night!” 

“Good night,” Sugoroku and Yuugi replied in sync. 

Sugoroku eyed the Puzzle, then Yuugi with an expression he couldn’t read as he inquired, tone slow and methodical, “you solved the Puzzle, Yuugi?” 

Yuugi nodded, “after I solved it, I don’t remember anything.” 

“Strange...” Sugoroku’s eyes averted as he brought a hand up to his chin. 

“Why?” 

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was thinking the Puzzle had something to do with this, but perhaps I’m overthinking.”

“Mn.” 

Yuugi’s mind wandered as he considered the possibility, but didn’t want to be too hasty--and besides, it didn’t make sense. 

“In any case, it’s time for bed,” Sugoroku pushed himself off the sofa. 

Yuugi suddenly had an idea: “Grandpa, can you lock my room just in case I wander off again? I’m afraid whatever happened might again.” 

His grandfather nodded solemnly, “I do, and I will. Your next option would be to jump out of the window, and that’s quite a drop!”  
  
Yuugi gave him a wobbly smile, “I know.” 

With Sugoroku trailing behind and shutting off the lights as they went, Yuugi, at last, made it to his bedroom. 

He turned to face his grandpa, and they exchanged a look and a nod before he shut the door. Yuugi’s hand remained on the doorknob until he heard the ‘click’ sound of the door being locked. 

He tried the knob; it wouldn’t move. 

_Thank goodness..._

“Don’t forget about me in the morning!” Yuugi called quietly. 

Sugoroku chuckled from the other side, “I won’t. I’ll write myself a note.” 

They bid each other goodnight and that was the end of it. 

As Yuugi changed into pajamas, he rubbed his tongue against the back of his teeth and tasted blood. He scrunched his face at the taste; salty, metallic, and sour. 

“Gross,” he murmured, spitting into the trash bin between his bed and desk. It took a few minutes for him to clean his entire mouth of the blood, and even then, there was an aftertaste. Too bad his bedroom was locked because otherwise he would rinse out his mouth and brush his teeth. 

_I only need blood every few months...and not even that much...what did I do_? 

His Grandpa, as he’d grown up, warned of the Beast taking over if a Vampire didn’t feed themselves enough. One of the things that happened was memory loss, and the Vampire being dazed and confused afterward (sometimes sitting or standing in the wake of their own destruction). The thing was, Yuugi just _had_ a vial of blood the week before...there was no way the Beast could’ve suddenly taken charge. 

Having blood stuck in between his teeth only complicated what was already a maze of confusion. Nothing lined up or made sense, and it wasn’t about to _start_ making sense, no matter how much he lied there thinking about it. 

_I’ll just go to sleep and maybe this will all go away..._

...

If only it were so simple. 


End file.
